The White Tiger

The lead actor, Adarsh Gourav, acted a tour de force. He acted with such grace, aggression, joy, pain.. and on and on. He showed all of the human emotions because his character was forced to live through so much.

The director, Rahman Bahrain, who’s made other great character driven films like 99 Homes and Man Push Cart, created a film that can resonate with audiences on many humanistic levels.

The film is a compelling, suspenseful drama about an Indian boy from a low caste family that is beaten down by the archaic and sinister system that forces him and his family to live like less than individuals, like untouchables if a thing could ever exist. Balram played masterfully by Gourav beats the odds by employing methods that are reminiscent of an American antihero cut from the same cloth as a Don Draper to build an empire. It’s also a rousing perspective into Indian life and culture, particularly in places like Delhi and Bangalore, the “Indian Silicon Valley” as it’s referred to. Rife with gripping scenes of the devastating class divides that India has, it’s also a powerful film about a country of billion people that many Americans know very little about.

It’s all of these things, and it doesn’t struggle from the pitfall that lesser movies fall into when juggling many competing elements. Bahrain has a steady hand and paced the film very well, a scene towards the end of the movie where Balram is asked for spare rupees by an older woman shows how much that his servanthood and the other factors in his life has brought about his volatile behavior. Scenes like these speak to more than just what the audience is directly shown. Indirectly, we see how the lower caste system is permitted to treat each other, poorly in this instance. 

Rajkummar Rao, who played Ashok, also had a fantastic performance. His character needed to be amiable enough for a climatic scene to have the teeth that Bahrain was likely intending that it would have. He was though, and his role required a lot of range to show how the son of the Stork could  be compassionate at times, while as wicked and underhanded at others. Priyanka Chopra as Pinky was another wonderful character that was important to the development of the story in how she helped Balram see what he possessed inside himself to live his destiny and be ‘the White Tiger’.

The 40-Year-Old Version

Tone in movies can be one of the toughest things to do right. Forty Year Old Version sets a tone that’s familiar and unfamiliar. Through the vision and acting of Radha Blank it delivers comedy that’ll resonate with people of all ages and backgrounds.

With familiar story tropes that examine friendship, family dynamics, loss, self-doubt, and career strife, Blank puts her own touch on a film that is funny and rife with much social commentary on gentrification, racial micro-aggressions, and navigating a murky world of political correctness.

Supporting performances from Peter Kim, as Archie, Radha’s theatrical agent and long time friend, Oswin Benjamin, as D, the mysterious and talented Brooklyn music producer, give the film more depth as it allows the protagonist to be a more full and balanced character. Making the climactic scene more impactful as the crowd is scanned and the audience is shown the different people in Radha’s life who are influential in her journey in life to that particular stage. Jacob Ming-Trent, as Lamont, a mouthy street dweller, maybe provides the films funniest scene, where he imparts wisdom to Radha on her big night. Reed Birney, as J. Whitman, plays a convincing and often frustrating figure in Radha’s career, that pushes her and is likely one of the catalysts in the creation of RadhamusPrime.

There’s a lot about this film that is just below the surface, meaning that Blank gives it a bit of time but doesn’t linger on it too much, just enough to provide the viewer with perspective. Like the challenges a Black female creative living in Harlem can have, which is evidenced by her constant verbal abuses on the street by Lamont or the bus drivers exchanges with her after she offers him condolences. Blank has truly accomplished something incredible with her first film, that is worthy of seeing.

Tenet

Tenet has received high praise from many critics and it certainly deserves credit for taking some high risk chances that paid off in terms of the screenplay, but not in terms of how the film is playing out at the box office. It’s unfortunate that this is Christopher Nolan’s most ambitious film because it was released during a year where people abandoned movie theaters due to the global coronavirus pandemic.


According to Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary, a tenet is a principle, belief, or doctrine generally held to be true, especially : one held in common by members of an organization, movement, or profession. It’s also a palindrome, a word that is the same both backwards and forwards, like racecar, mom, or even detartrated, which is a chemical term meaning to remove tartrates. It's an aptly chosen word for the title of this movie as the promotional poster evinces.


This is probably one of my favorite Nolan films because it’s his first film where a non-white actor plays a central role to the film. John David Washington, who plays the aptly named role of the Protagonist, is of course Black and his character brings a different dimension to this Nolan film than Inception, Dunkirk, or Interstellar all brought. Nolan’s screenplay is wise to utilize its Protagonist’s abilities/appearance, instead of hiding from it which is something that major Hollywood blockbusters have done before. John Boyega has been critical of Disney/Star Wars brass for their double talk/action in this regard in the past. There’s a great scene as the film is developing the Protagonist character where Washington’s acting prowess and impeccable delivery coalesce with Nolan’s intuitive script and provide some laughs that split up the rapid fire action sequences.


Criticism of the film has substantially fallen on the notion that the audience is subjected to a storyline of which the film hasn't given them enough of a reason to care about. Without giving away too much, although personally I may agree, the film's innate ability to chug along at a breakneck pace and its other qualities will likely make audiences forgot about this.

Knives Out

Meet the Thrombey's... Although pretty late to the party, I was just on time to catch this hilarious, who-done-it mystery movie before it slipped out of theaters and I was totally impressed. Having been exposed to various members of this ensemble cast at some point in their careers I was excited to see how they would be able to co-exist onscreen as an acting family unit.

The accomplished and versatile ensemble cast is one of the many reasons to see this, with Toni Collette, who left so many speechless with her performance in Hereditary, or Katherine Langford who played the vitally important role of Leah in Love Simon, to veteran actors Don Johnson, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Michael Shannon, the film seems to have the right actors to carry the story along. Most people will have seen Daniel Craig act in his many roles as James Bond over the years, but they will be in for a pleasant surprise at his ability to play a quirky detective with a southern drawl and a penchant for finding the truth, no matter where it may lead him. Audiences will too have seen Chris Evans play Captain America in his many appearances in those movies of the Marvel Cinema Universe, but they will again be perturbed and flummoxed at the impressive quality with which Evans' is able to bring his character in Knives Out, Ransom, to life.

Director Rian Johnson hosted a 23 minute video with Vanity Fair where he broke down a scene in the film, which is highly worth seeing (Before or after viewing, no spoilers!), in it he offers his insight into how the scene was setup from where the cameras were being pointed, to how it was working with all of the talent, to the behind the scenes "movie magic" that we don't get to see. It was fantastic to see how excited he was about explaining some of the minute details of what went into making Knives Out, which in turn allowed for more of his voice to come out and be evident when watching the film. He really is an exceptional director, who we should expect more big things from in the future.

Ana de Armas, who plays Marta Cabrera, has to be mentioned here, not only because she's the leading actress of the movie, but because she steals the show despite being listed third on the movie's first billed cast list. Although, she occupies a substantial amount of screen time Armas uses many subtle acting skills to bring power and depth to her role, which is important to the development of the films story.

Like the above poster shows, Knives Out is a robust, dynamic multi-genre movie that has something for everybody. I saw "multi-genre" because it's not just a drama, it has too many comedic elements to be pigeonholed into solely that category. Additionally, it's not exclusively a thriller or mystery movie, because at it's core it's truly a family "dram-edy" about a mysterious, thrilling event that happens to the family.. I won't confuse you anymore, but what I'm trying to say is that Knives Out is a great American movie with something for all audiences. See it when you have the chance.

Troop Zero

Troop Zero is a well-made family drama/comedy released on January 17, 2020 by Amazon Studios. It was released by Big Indie Pictures, Escape Artists, and Amazon. The screenplay was written by Lucy Alibar, known for Beasts of the Southern Wild, and directed by the duo of Bert & Bertie, who most recently co-directed, Dance Camp (2016).

It stars Mckenna Grace, as Christmas Flint, a social misfit with her head in the clouds. Jim Gaffigan plays the role of her father, Ramsey Flint, a local attorney, who like his daughter is also a peculiar character that often accepts payment from his clients in the form of "I-owe-you's". Viola Davis plays, Miss Rayleen, Ramsey's paralegal assistant who oftentimes acts in a motherly role to Christmas. Allison Janney is Miss Massey, a troop leader for a local troop of Birdie Scouts that has a history with Miss Rayleen. Mike Epps rounds out the cast as, Dwayne Champaign, a friend/client of Ramses, who brings humor and lightness to the role.

Troop Zero is set in rural Georgia in 1977 and Laura Fox, who designed the production of the film really did a wonderful job of teleporting the audience back to this period with colorful and rich sets filled with nostalgic items that have today become memorabilia and picturesque settings backdropped against the tall Georgia pines and Southern Live Oaks that the area is famous for. The rural south American setting adds another element to the film that doesn't really percolate to the point of becoming a pseudo-character in the movie, but I felt like the events probably couldn't happen in too many other places.

Grace's character, Christmas, is the sort of character that many love rooting for because she's a likable underdog with a bright smile and a quirky personality, and it's through this that the film's directors are able to string along a touching coming-of-age story that offers many solid supporting performances. Notably, all of the child actors perform exceptionally, either as supporting Birdie Scouts or rival scouts in the climactic competition to see who will be recorded on NASA's Golden Record. 

Troop Zero is definitely worth a watch, it'll remind you of the power of imagination, self-belief, perseverance, sacrifice, family, friendship and love.   

Ready Player One

As Ohio goes, so goes the nation? A quotation with political implications that typically accompanies primary election season, but in the realm of Ready Player One, it's all about the players involved. Notably, Steven Spielberg, 3-time Oscar winner and global box office behemoth, who's movies have grossed upwards of $9.4 billion, and Ernest Cline, the first time novelist, who's book started a bidding war back in 2010. Spielberg, the movie's director is from Cincinnati, Ohio, and Cline hails from Ashland, Ohio. But, maybe more importantly the film's setting is Columbus, Ohio in the year 2045, which perhaps provide a backdrop that isn't overtly familiar to the average American, insofar as it represents a place in people's minds of Middle American tastes and cultures that differ from those of locales closer in proximity to places like New York, Los Angeles, or Boston. 

I say all that to say that video games and video game culture create worlds on television sets and in our minds that provide a respite where many of us can and have spent hours of our lives, collecting coins, upgrading armor, slaying bosses, and whatever else that simply cannot be done in the real world. Much appreciation goes to Cline for his uncanny ability to pen a novel that touches on so many poignant moments in 1980's American culture that also connects to the modern world in what companies like Oculus are trying to do with virtual reality, to allow us to live in our video games. See Ready Player One, for its ability to bring out a lot of that nostalgia, while giving a wishful template for what modern VR headsets hope to achieve and for just being 2 hours of action, entertainment, and some laughs.   

Criticism has been lauded on this movie, which Spielberg was keen to refer to it as at a presser at Comic Con before its release, so as not to confuse it with his more high-brow fare like The Post, Lincoln, or Bridge of Spies, for its frenetic pace and its inability to create deeper connections with the incessant pop culture references and items of nostalgia that litter the movie like confetti on stadium turf after a world champion is crowned. But, for those having read Cline's book, they understand that the best apart about the novel was the hunt... Sure there was time during the novel to sort of sit back and reminisce as to why spending hours in a local arcade playing Pac-Man or some other 80's game was formative and provided life lessons that could be reflected back on thirty years later, but the coolest thing about the book was connecting the dots of an epic scavenger hunt where the stakes were so high, especially where being successful at the hunt required having knowledge of off beat stuff from popular movies to more obscure ones. It essentially gave self-proclaimed video game nerds and fan girls an opportunity to read about it what it would be like to excel at something that the whole world saw considerable value in. 

I was very impressed with how Spielberg and company were able to visualize this movie and bring it to life. My guess is that soooo much more than I'd expect in this movie is CGI, but it's not poorly done where it looks "too fake", it accompanies the actors especially well in the action scenes, particularly the opening race scene through NYC. The cast selected to play the roles was very on point with only Olivia Cooke seeming to me, to be not the most ideal pick to play Art3mis/Samantha, but they made up for this by playing up the role of Hannah John-Kamen's character, F'Nale Zandor, who pairs well with Nolan Sorrento's sinister tendencies and actions in trying to control the OASIS. Lena Waithe as Aech/Helen was a role that I was really looking forward to after I discovered that she had earned the spot, and she didn't disappoint. Although, it was disappointing that a particular story line involving her was left out of the movie. T.J. Miller as I-Rok provides a lot of high quality humor throughout the film, its a shame that they didn't give him a bit more screen time.  

    

Café Society

Café Society is an incredibly shot period piece from Woody Allen, or Monsieur Woody, as the French lovingly refer to him. It's a period piece that is set in the 1930s, in the Bronx and Hollywood. It follows the story of Bobby Dorfman after he comes out to La La Land to try to work for his uncle, hot-shot agent to the stars, Phil Stern. Jesse Eisenberg acts the role of Bobby and Steve Carell plays Phil. Jeannie Berlin and Ken Stott (The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey) play minor roles as Bobby's parents, Rose and Marty. Corey Stoll (House of Cards) and Sari Lennick round out the members of the Dorfman family, playing Bobby's brother and sister, Ben & Evelyn. Cafe Society is certainly a period drama depicting the glamorous life of a Hollywood agent in the 30s, but it's also a family drama as well which portrays the life of Jewish family doing their damnedest to make it in the Bronx.

Much can be said about the ensemble of talented actors that Woody assembled for this film, particularly that all of them were able to do very well with minimal material/screen time. Anna Camp, who plays a prostitute named Candy, comes to mind when she highlights a funny scene with Eisenberg. Parker Posey is convincing and amusing, in her role as Rad Taylor. Blake Lively supplies her Hollywood looks fittingly, as Veronica, who provides quite the catch-of-a-rebound for protagonist, Bobby. But, it's (surprisingly?) Kristen Stewart, as Vonnie, who has probably the most important role in the movie, as the juggled back and forth love interest of Bobby and his uncle, Phil. She delivers a rather stellar performance, portraying the vulnerabilities of a young secretary who's pursued by her much older boss, as well as sort of a delicate feline-like toying with naivete of new-to-Hollywood Bobby. She's really quite keen.

Some criticism has been laid on Woody for not trying to venture out of his comfort zone on this latest effort, and there is some merit to that, but if you go into Cafe Society hoping to be entertained for 90 minutes by a film that is a flashback to a different time in New York City and Hollywood, with a healthy serving of humor and wonderful sets, then I don't think you'll be disappointed. Just don't expect to see the most realistic plot resolutions.